The NFL's New Math

By Andrew Zimbalist, a professor of economics at Smith College and author of "Unpaid Professionals: Commercialism and Conflict in Big-Time College Sports" (Princeton University Press, 1999).

I s a new National Football League franchise in Houston worth $700 million, or has owner Robert McNair lost his mind? Recall that the two NFL expansion franchises in 1995 sold for the bargain-basement price of $140 million each. Last year, however, the born-again Cleveland Browns sold for $530 million, and five months ago...